CORA TO EDMUND *

Tell me not, Oh, false deceiver,
       You n’er strove to win my heart;
That, if you have Cora’s favour,
       It was free on Cora’s part.

That no tales of love you’ve whispered,

       With soft sighs, in Cora’s ear,
Taught to raise no hopes, nor flatter’d;
       Those are words I cannot hear.

Go, false Edmund, go from Cora,
       Mourn, she will not, tho’ she loved,

Why should she regret thee, worthless!
       Now thy worthlessness is proved.

Go, but practice such deception
       Never more so foul and deep;
Raise not hopes to disappoint them;

       Win no heart, or win to keep.

Port Talbot, U.C. [Page 30]

* This poem appeared in The Scribbler (Montreal), I, 320 (28 March, 1822). [back]